By Robert Lockard

Imagine trying to beat Microsoft at its own game. Microsoft, the giant of software and Web browsers, seemed all but unstoppable in its dominance of the Internet with its Internet Explorer browser five years ago. However, a small browser, which was originally called Phoenix, debuted on November 9, 2004 and started giving Explorer a run for its money.

We now know this Web browser as Firefox. And it recently turned five years old. Happy birthday, Firefox!

I read about Firefox’s anniversary in the Webware article, “After 5 years, Firefox faces new challenges.” I talked a little about Firefox in my Submit Solution blog entry, “Google Chrome is the best Web browser.” I mentioned that it’s my favorite browser, even if it’s not exactly as fast as Chrome.

Many factors led up to the swift success of the Firefox browser. Microsoft got a little lazy on creating new features for Explorer. Plus, viruses were specifically designed to target Explorer, giving Internet users a strong incentive to try something new. Right on cue, Firefox arrived with its innovative tabbed interface, customizability and popup ad blocker. It was an instant hit, receiving 10 million downloads in the first month alone.

Firefox 2.0 was an even bigger success, gaining support from Web designers who started to comply with the new browser’s design standards. Google also lent a hand by embedding its search engine into the Firefox browser and giving Firefox a portion of the advertising revenue it received from searches through Firefox.

Google has now entered the fray with its own browser, Chrome. Who knows if it will be able to enjoy the same success as Firefox, but it’s a healthy thing to have competition, as Microsoft has certainly learned by now. Firefox is still going strong, though. It estimated about 160 million people downloaded the Firefox 3.0 version and more than 300 million have downloaded its current 3.5 version so far. For a five-year-old, Firefox is looking exceptionally strong.

Keep coming back to the Submit Solution Web Design Blog for great discussions on topics like this.

This is a complete version of the eHarbor Blog post: “Happy birthday, Firefox.” The photo of the Firefox birthday cake is from Flickr, and it is the copyright of Christopher Blizzard.

By the way, try saying the title of this blog entry three times fast. I’m no good at quickly repeating f sounds.

By Robert Lockard

I read an article on Entrepreneur.com a while back, entitled, “Rev up the Search Engines.” It gives a helpful rundown of solid SEO principles for small businesses, which don’t have a whole lot of money to spare but need to start generating results from ecommerce.

This article gives six tips for a small business to get the most bang for its buck, when it comes to search engine optimization. They are attributed to Steve Wiideman, a fairly renowned SEO expert. I already talked about most of these in my SEO series in the eHarbor Blog, back in February and March of 2009. But I think a refresher is healthy.

Here are some of the highlights I took from these tips:

- Search engines are getting smarter. Don’t expect Google, Bing or Yahoo to fall for the same old SEO tricks. Bloggers and other content generators used to focus on their keyword-to-content ratio, but now search engines recognize when you use the same keyword too many times in the same post. Use relevant keywords prudently. If you use keyword-stuffing tactics, don’t expect much success.

- Google should be the focus of your SEO strategy. I thought this one was interesting because, while Google is certainly the king of search engines at the moment, things can change fairly quickly in the digital age. Of course, Google is constantly changing its algorithm for search results and it’s even changing its search engine completely with new products like Google Wave, Google Caffeine and a focus on social media, images and music. But that’s the topic of a whole other blog entry.

- If an SEO consulting company guarantees No. 1 placement on Google or any other search engine, don’t believe them. Google is the only that can absolutely guarantee top placement on its results pages, and every other company has to do its best to influence Google, but none can absolutely guarantee success. Keep that in mind when you come across SEO companies’ marketing messages.

Having said that, I’ll note Submit Solution is a good SEO resource for you. Submit Solution has more than 13 years of experience working on Internet marketing, which includes search engine optimization. It’s a great resource because it has helped many companies like yours reach customers online through its efforts. Like I said, they can’t guarantee No. 1 placement for competitive search terms, but you can expect dramatic improvements in your search-engine rankings for specific keywords in the months after they start implementing their SEO strategies on your behalf.

Keep coming back to the Submit Solution SEO Blog for the latest updates on major search-engine trends. This is a complete version of the eHarbor Blog entry, “Top SEO tactics for small businesses.” The photo of the flying bicyclist is from Flickr, and it is the copyright of Tom Grundy Photo.

By Britnee Nguyen (@brit_witters)

If you are getting a new website domain name, you might be wondering if all the SEO and internet marketing work you did for your original domain will carry over. Some people change their domain name to target a better audience by using their keywords in the URL. If you choose to do this, there are ways to do it without affecting the SEO you’ve already put in place.

Keep your old URL for the purpose of getting it forwarded onto your new website. This way if you have a returning customer who doesn’t know you changed your website, when they type in the original site they will get redirected to the correct one. This will keep your customers coming to your website and keep your page rank. Always use a 301 redirect that is permanent. If you use a 302 redirect that is temporary this could do some damage to your SEO.

When using the 301 redirect, it will redirect every page on your site to the correct page on the new website so you won’t lose any web traffic. Some just redirect it to the main homepage, but it’s better to make them all direct to the most relevant page you have on your new site.

Another option you can do in this process is while you’re redesigning your new site, go ahead and move your old site to the new URL. When you have the new design ready to be put up, go ahead and change it. This might affect your rankings for a small time on Google, but it shows them that you are just moving your domain name and not some outsider who is trying to bank on your built-up credibility.

If you do these things, then you should have no problem with Google recognizing your new site as the correct version of your old one and will keep your page rank and SEO in place. Remember to keep your old domain name and use a 301 redirect and to have your company’s old design on the new one while waiting for the new one to be completed.

By Robert Lockard

That’s right. Google Chrome is the best Web browser by far, according to a study by Jacob Gube, the founder and chief editor of Six Revisions. Chrome v. 3 beat Firefox v. 3.5, Safari v. 4, Opera v.10 and Microsoft Explorer v. 8. Take a look at the results below.

You should definitely check out the whole chart by clicking on this link to the blog entry, “Performance Comparison of Major Web Browsers.” Fascinating stuff. I’ll discuss some of the highlights and their impact on ecommerce and Internet marketing.

I’m a Firefox user, myself, so some of this study’s results came as a surprise to me. I’m not sure if they will change my mind about which browser I use right now, but it’s definitely helped me think more about why I prefer one over the others. Here are some of the highlights of the study’s findings:

JavaScript Speed

Chrome won this competition with an average download time of JavaScripts in just 542.3 milliseconds. Safari was No. 2 with 863.9 milliseconds and Firefox was No. 3 with 1,230.6 milliseconds. Explorer was last with a comparatively long download time of 6,305.5 milliseconds.

JavaScripts are important because they are heavily used on websites like Digg, as well as in Gmail. It’s no surprise Google is the leader in this category because it definitely wants people to be able to quickly use its own applications.

Page Load Time

This study measured how long it takes each Web browser to download Yahoo’s main page. The trouble with these results is that they might be affected by how many other people were using the site at the time the study was conducted. Bearing that in mind, it’s interesting to see how close all of the Web browsers are to each other.

Firefox was the fastest with a download time of 1.34 seconds. The slowest time was 1.61 seconds and it was shared by Explorer and Safari. The difference between those two times is so small that it hardly matters which browser you use to download a website like Yahoo.

Browser Cache Performance

The same is true for both Page Load Times and Browser Cache Performance. Browsers often save a cached version of a Web page you have already visited so it can quickly bring it up again when you return to it. The download times of a cached page ranged from 0.72 seconds to 0.89 seconds, which statisticians would say is probably not a “significant” difference. Chrome had the fastest speed, while Safari had the slowest.

Other categories in the study had a wider variety of results, but I thought these ones were the most interesting.

This is all fascinating information, but what does it all mean? Why are fast download times important? If online users have to wait several seconds for one of your Web pages to download, they might just give up after a while and decide your site isn’t worth the wait.

We want our ecommerce websites to be fast enough for people, no matter which browser they use. But we should definitely focus on the most popular ones. That’s the subject of a whole other blog entry, though.

Keep coming back to the Submit Solution Website Design Services Blog for great discussions on topics like this.

This is a complete version of the eHarbor Blog post: “Which Web browser is the best?” The graph of the results of this study is the copyright of Jacob Gube and Six Revisions.

By Alyssa Udall (@udallyss)

Yes, the title of this post may seem a bit depressing, but just hear me out.

I’m here to talk about the top mistakes that people make in SEO in relation to keywords, which in turn, basically guarantee that they will never reach the top of Google.

Let’s say that I’m starting an online shop focusing on baby products.  The problem that most people encounter in relation to keywords, is that they use terms  like “baby products” without recognizing their popularity or exploring other options.  There are many problems with using generic, short phrases like “baby products” as your main keyword that you would like to market to search engines.  For example, consider online entities like Babies-R-Us and Graco that have hundreds of thousands of dollars to commit to online marketing.  Large companies like these dominate the online marketing world because they have almost unlimited resources while, sadly, you do not.

Also, consider how search engines like Google rank sites: the shorter the keyword, the more searches you will have.  Therefore, the shorter the keyword or phrase, the harder it is for you to rank number one in Google, for they understand that shorter phrases are more popular, and therefore more desirable for online businesses.

Basically, when people start a site (or start optimizing their site), they tend to choose keywords that are all wrong for them.  In order to avoid this, use the Google Adwords Keyword Research Tool to research key terms and phrases.  First, I would make a list similar to this:

baby products

designer baby products

baby items

baby gifts

These are common key phrases that others with similiar online stores will use to generate traffic to their site.  Once I enter in these keywords (and check the “use synonyms” box), Google will generate information on these terms and other similar phrases.  You can use this information to pick keywords that are popular, but not over-saturated with competition, such as “baby products”.

By using what are called “long tail keywords” (phrases of three or more words) you will have a much higher chance of getting a great ranking in Google.  This works to smaller online businesses’ advantage, because longer keyword phrases have less competition and will allow them to rank in Google’s top page.  Although the traffic generated from these words is quite a bit less than the traditional two-word phrase, it’s better to be at the top of Google for “cheap handmade baby products” than on page 24 for “baby products”.

By Britnee Nguyen

Search engine optimization tends to have a lot of different aspects about it that businesses need to be aware of in order to see results. There are so many things that can be done when optimizing a website that it’s important to let experts in the field work on the SEO for your business.

Google is the search engine that most businesses want to be top ranked, but Google is regularly changing their search results formula which makes it more difficult to stay on top. Internet marketing experts who work with SEO everyday, such as those at Submit Solution, stay up-to-date on these changes.

There are several things that need to be kept up on an updated basis for businesses to succeed on Google. For example, the local results feature on Google helps target certain areas for results. So if your business wants to do more in a local geographical area, Google can get you more traffic from those in that area. You just need to make sure you write some local information when optimizing your website. To boost your local ranking, use local keywords when you’re writing directions on how to find your business with a map included.

You also want to take advantage of recent results. Some of those who use search engines only want to read about the most recent and updated information. This means you should be constantly updating the content on your website or blog to make sure you’re fresh to show up on recent results. Google also offers searchers to look for related results to their original search. This is where variations of your target keywords will benefit you. Your website will be more likely to show up if you have more related keywords on the niche you are in.

Google has been one of the top search engines for many years and businesses have continually found success when they’re ranking high on it. There are many other ways to strategize your SEO to get ranked high on Google, but hopefully the above tips will help you get started.

By Robert Lockard

In the Wall Street Journal article, “Why Email No Longer Rules,” I found a fascinating argument against email and for social-media sites, like Twitter and Facebook. Email is on its way out as the primary means of sending online messages.

For a dozen years or so email was the freshest, easiest way to keep in touch with people over long distances without having to pay big phone bills. Now it’s old hat. Basically, the paradigm of online communication has changed and we’re all going to have to change with the times.

What do you think? Is it a good thing that email is being replaced by instant communications? I think it’s great for ecommerce. With the aid of instant messaging, tweets and wall posts, online marketers can serve their customers much better and faster than ever before.

Response times for online communication have shrunk from hours to minutes, to now just seconds. By responding to our customers’ needs at a rapid pace, we can increase our customer-retention rates and make sure the people we do business with feel valued and respected. We can also quickly identify and assist potential customers and other leads who visit our ecommerce websites.

I don’t think email will go away anytime soon, though. It’s still a great tool for holding somewhat private conversations away from the peering eyes of other Internet users. There is definitely something to be said for privacy and discretion online. We don’t want to reveal confidential information in public forums, but we want to have a positive presence on Twitter and Facebook. It’s a fine line we have to walk.

As search engines keep working harder to add social-media sites to their search results, the value of tweets and Facebook updates could increase. Just make sure your social-media communication points people to your website where people can actually make purchases and build your online rankings.

If you would like help getting a great website design, I recommend you contact Submit Solution’s professionals. They are extremely effective at delivering captivating website designs that help increase your conversion rate of visitors into customers.

This blog entry is a complete version of the eHarbor Blog post, “Is email finished?” Keep coming back to the Submit Solution Social Media Blog for more exciting updates like this.

By Robert Lockard

Have you heard? Google and Bing are adding new social-media search capabilities to their search engines in an attempt to keep up with these innovative websites. Bing already has a beta version of its new search engine designed specifically for Twitter results while Google is holding back at the moment.

Google and Microsoft are caught in an escalating fight over who will dominate the search-engine market for social-media sites like Twitter and Facebook. I read about this in the PC World article, “Real-Time Search: Google and Bing Rivalry Intensifies on Facebook and Twitter.” This article refers to the Google-Bing rivalry as a chess match. Quite an apt metaphor, in my opinion, because I love all of the strategy that goes into a seemingly simple chess game.

Social media has been a thorn in the side of major search engines for a few years now. Facebook and Twitter are simply updated too often and too fast for search engines to keep up with them. It looks like that might be changing, though.

Microsoft has already made deals with both Twitter and Facebook to give Bing access to the sites’ tweets and wall posts, respectively. Bing’s solution for Twitter is to have a tag cloud of the most-discussed topics on tech news, Twitter, followed by some of the newest tweets and links to sites being referred to frequently. For Facebook, Bing will include status updates in its search-engine results pages.

Google is taking it a bit more slowly. It could be several months before it starts earnestly including tweets in its search results. Its new Social Search service, which is also not yet launched, will provide an interesting twist on tech news indexing Facebook updates. With this service, Google users will only be able to search for updates related to topics that their friends and fans have added on Facebook. That’s pretty cool!

Facebook users can choose whether or not to allow their updates to be included in search engines like Google or Bing. That should help protect people’s privacy. What do you think of these search engines’ attempts to dive into social media? Keep coming back to the Submit Solution SEO Blog for the latest updates on Google and Bing, as well as other major search-engine trends.

This is a complete version of the eHarbor Blog entry, “Bing and Google launch social-media solutions.” The photo of the chess match is from Flickr, and it is the copyright of marcusrg.

By Britnee Nguyen

Google and Bing have both announced that they are going to start including Facebook and Twitter posts into their search results. They also claim these will be real-time searches. Social media has so many internet users that Bing and Google want part of that action in their search engines.

They have said that they will start letting users search for Twitter tweets and Facebook statuses on the general search engine sites. In addition, Google is going to include a social search tool that shows a user’s friend’s posted information on various social sites. Google is also partnering with La La music to start offering music downloads on their site as well.

Lately, there have been many on-line social media sites where more people are going towards to get their information from instead of through the traditional on-line searches. It sounds like Google and Bing are trying to steer that group back to their own websites with this new strategy.

According to reports, web traffic to search engines increased by 15 percent in the past year with Twitter increasing tenfold and Facebook tripling its numbers. So they are all growing immensely, but Google and Bing still want to remain the main place to go for information.

This is great and all that the search engines are still working hard to keep business thriving, but I haven’t found out yet how those who don’t want to be included in the search results to opt out.

Personally, Facebook is my private space and I don’t want everybody to be reading my statuses. Which is why on Facebook, no one is allowed to look at your profile unless you make them your friend. Allowing access to this through search engines interferes with this privacy.

Twitter on the other hand is okay to do so. Most everyone’s T

witter accounts are open to the public that anyone can view. When I write something on Twitter, I write knowingly that anyone could see it. With Facebook, it’s more private. This is from a personal opinion, from a business opinion this is great news. It means more coverage and chances to get your name out there through search results.

It’s great that search engines are being innovative and offering new services, but I do hope they provide a way for personal social media users to block the search results if they want that option.

By Robert Lockard

Search-engine giant Google is trying to buck the overall downward trend in Internet advertising sales by grabbing a bigger slice of the pie and by eating a little of TV’s pie, as well.

In my blog entry, “Google debuts ‘stock market’ for display ads,” I talked about Google’s attempt to make its new DoubleClick Ad Exchange successful. At the end I touched on Google’s attempts to grow beyond its core competency of search ads into the world of display ads. I’ll pick up where I left off.

According to the Wall Street Journal article, “Google Decides to Find Its Creative Side,” Google is trying to translate its ownership of YouTube and DoubleClick into a more dynamic advertising approach. Google is so well-known as the king of search ads that it might be difficult for it to break into Yahoo’s territory of creative display ads.

They’ve already created YouTube ad campaigns for J.C. Penney and Quaker Oats, but they saved their most innovative campaigns for Hewlett-Packard and Volvo. For those two companies, Google helped create YouTube ads and display ads featuring the latest updates (tweets) from Twitter.

Search engines are notoriously slow in catching up to social-media sites like Twitter and Facebook. You can read my insights into this topic in my eHarbor Blog entry, “Google can’t keep up with Twitter.” It’s a promising sign that Google is making this effort to use Twitter in its online-advertising services.

Google’s foray into YouTube might be the key to grabbing some of the TV industry’s advertising sales. In the United States, TV receives more ad revenue than any other medium. Google’s ad-sale growth has fallen from 56 percent in 2007 to 31 percent in 2008 down to 3 percent in the second quarter of 2009. It’s still growing, which is remarkable since we’re in the middle of a recession, but Google wants to stop the downward trend.

Can Google pull it off? They seem to be fighting a war on three fronts. They’re trying to hold on to search-ad dollars, which have fallen because of the recession, while also jumping into both display ads and TV-like ads. I won’t count them out because they might just have the resources and patience to do it. We’ll keep an eye on what happens.

This is a complete version of the eHarbor Blog post: “Google flexes its creative muscles.” The photo of the cat in the Coca-Cola box is from Flickr, and it is the copyright of Greencolander.